


we are young

by whoredan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aro/Ace Peter, Because They Deserve To Be Happy, Bisexual James Potter, Bisexual Remus Lupin, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gay as Hell Sirius Black, Light Angst, M/M, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, POV switches a lot, Pansexual Lily Evans, Person of Color James Potter, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Slow Burn, because I say so, not self harm, the whole werewolf thing yknow, they're all lgbt, tw: mention of cuts, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:04:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoredan/pseuds/whoredan
Summary: Sirius Black expected to go to Hogwarts, get through his seven years in Slytherin, then be forced into Voldemort's ranks by his parents. He expected wrong.Remus Lupin expected to be the school freak, to be unloved by all, and go on into a lonely, unemployed life. He expected wrong.Peter Pettigrew expected a normal seven years at Hogwarts. He didn't care where he was put, or where he went afterwards. He expected a very boring school experience. He expected wrong.James Potter expected nothing. He decided, from day one, to forge his future himself instead of sitting around thinking of what might happen. Regardless of what he did, he knew he was going to have fun. And he was correct.





	1. give me a second

**Author's Note:**

> woah hey sorry if this sucks the most ass lmao

_POV: Sirius Black_

_Year: First_

 

“Oh, go on already! Run through!”

 

A young Sirius Black stood in front of the pillar between platforms nine and ten at King’s Cross station, his father’s hand resting- _quite uncomfortably_ \- on his shoulder. He pushed the young boy lightly.

 

“Get through the barrier, before some _Muggle_ asks what we’re up to,” his father said sternly.

 

Sirius couldn’t help his reluctance. Seriously(no pun intended), he had to run at a _wall?_ To get to Hogwarts? He wondered if this was just some sort of _Ha, gotcha_ moment. Then again, his father had never had a sense of humor in the first place.

 

_“Son-”_

 

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Sirius muttered, shrugging his dad’s hand off his shoulder- could he just _stop_ doing that?- and starting towards the barrier with a fast walk. He sped up, squeezing his eyes shut and expecting to run into a brick wall, but the crash never came. When he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by what he assumed to be other wizards. Mothers fussed over whether or not their children had everything. Children dodged their parents’ kisses, scrunching up their noses and saying, “Not cool!”

 

It was _weird,_ but Sirius didn’t dwell on it. He only had a few minutes to get onto the train, and he assumed that a few minutes would be what it would take to get through the crowd of people. Not bothering to wait for his parents- he knew that they wouldn’t be following, anyways- he began to make his way around people, muttering “Sorry”s and “Excuse me”s and “Could you get out of my way?”s. He finally arrived at the train door with only a minute or two to spare. Wasting no time in his next actions, he managed to tug his heavy trunk off his trolley and pull it up onto the train, immediately searching for an empty compartment. He was not going to deal with the annoyingly pressing questions about his family if he had a say in anything.

 

Eventually, he found a compartment that was completely empty. Sighing in relief, he entered, closing the door and shoving his trunk under the seat. He leaned back, relaxing.

 

His privacy was cut short, however, when the compartment door opened. A boy entered, ignoring the look he got from Sirius. He looked around his age, had messy dark hair, and dark skin. A pair of circular glasses rested on his nose, and he had a look on his face that would make even the most laid back of teachers paranoid. Sirius watched as the boy put his trunk under the seat opposite him and then proceeded to take up the entire seat, stretching across it like a cat.

 

“What-”

 

“James. Potter. Nice to meet you, too,” the boy, now named, held out his hand from where he sat, grinning.

 

“Sirius,” he responded, taking the hand and shaking it.

 

“Nice name. Lots of joke opportunities,” James said, nodding in approval. “Anyways. You look like a first year. What house do you think you’ll be in?”

 

Sirius wondered if it was really that obvious that he was a first year, or if James was just a good guesser.

 

“Uh.. I don’t know,” he said, his eyes shifting to look out the window as the train began moving.

 

James raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m going into Gryffindor for sure. It’s the best house _ever-”_

 

Sirius listened to James ramble on and on about Gryffindor and how amazing it was, his heart sinking with every word. At least this kid knew his house was great. The only thing Sirius knew about Slytherin was that it was renowned for pureblood families- in other words, jampacked with future Death Eaters. He had to uphold the Black family’s reputation, and all that.

 

“- I think you’d make a good Gryffindor. Your hair’s already halfway to being a mane,” James said, his tone joking.

 

“Really?” Sirius tilted his head, his eyebrows drawing together in a look of confusion. “I never thought of that.”

 

“You should think of it, then. Maybe if you see yourself there, the Sorting Hat’ll put you there.”

 

“Does it do that?” Sirius had never been told that. It was always that he _had_ to be in Slytherin, there was never a debate. It was almost scary to think what his family’s reaction would be if he wasn’t in the house they all had been in. Then again, it would be a huge punch in the face to his parents, which seemed hilarious.

 

James nodded. “My dad says it did for him when he was a first year.”

 

Sirius pondered this. He decided he liked the idea. Hey, maybe he could prove that the Black family wasn’t all asshats obsessed with bloodlines and power. That would be cool.

 

\---

 

Hogwarts, though he’d seen pictures, was unlike anything Sirius had ever seen. First off, the first years were led to the castle by a _gigantic_ man- James whispered that he _had_ to be at least half giant. Once they got to the entrance hall, he handed them off to a woman wearing dark green robes. He said, “The firs’-years, Professor McGonagall.”

 

Professor McGonagall nodded, dismissing him and turning to lead them down the entrance hall. Once they got to the end, she stopped, allowing Sirius to get a better look at her. She seemed to be in her mid-forties. Her greying hair and the lines on her face made it evident that she was aging, but her eyes made her seem younger at heart. Sirius knew she’d either be the best teacher or the absolute worst.

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony. While you are here, your house is like your family. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup. In a few minutes, we will enter the Great Hall, and the Sorting Ceremony will begin. I suggest you try to smarten yourselves up before then.” With that, she exited the Entrance Hall, leaving everyone else to their own devices.

 

James beamed, rocking back and forth on his heels and toes. Most other people were quiet, but James was like a ticking bomb, like any minute he’d explode from all the things going through his head.

 

Soon enough, McGonagall returned to lead the first-years into the Great Hall. The minute they stepped in, several students gasped. Sirius heard about seven different people say “Woah.”

 

The Great Hall was lit by thousands of candles, which were floating mid-air under a ceiling that Sirius knew to be enchanted to look like the night sky. Four long tables took up most of the space, with space in between for walking, and another table sat horizontally at the far end of the hall, where all the teachers sat. The Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, sat in his seat in the middle of the teachers’ table, smiling slightly as he watched the students enter the Hall. Many other kids already sat at their tables. They all went quiet when the first-years walked in.

 

Professor McGonagall led them to the other end of the hall, where a stool sat on the steps leading to the teachers’ table. A black, worn hat rested on the stool, and several of the first-years gasped when it opened its mouth and began to sing. Sirius tuned out most of the song, sighing with relief once it was over. _Yeah, yeah, quit the poetry, let’s just get this over with!_ McGonagall unrolled a long piece of parchment, no doubt holding the name of every first year in the hall.

 

“Abbey, Mina!”

 

And so, the Sorting began. Sirius knew that he shouldn’t try to tune this out- he might miss his own name due to its closeness to the beginning of the alphabet. So, he sat through every A last name, and began to mentally gather himself once he heard “Baker, Joey!” called out. Eventually, they arrived at his name.

 

“Black, Sirius!”

 

People muttered. “Black? Another one?” Sirius ignored them. James pat him on the shoulder, grinning and wishing him luck. With a short, determined nod, Sirius waded through the crowd of eleven year olds and sat on the stool, waiting for McGonagall to place the hat on his head.

 

_“Oh, another one of you. Well. S-”_

 

 _Don’t you fucking dare,_ Sirius thought.

 

_“Really, now? Hmm.. I guess, if you’re so against it.. GRYFFINDOR!”_

 

Sirius grinned. He _really_ hadn’t expected that to work. But there was no time to sit around, looking surprised. He pulled off the hat and gave it back to McGonagall, running to the Gryffindor table, which was filled with people cheering and clapping.

 

Many people were sorted into Gryffindor before James’s name was called. _Camacho, Kevin_ . _Castro, Roy. Evans, Lily. Howell, Theresa. Leiva, Erin. Lupin, Remus. Pettigrew, Peter._ Just to name a few.

 

Finally, McGonagall called out _Potter, James,_ and he rushed up to the stool. The Hat sorted him into Gryffindor immediately, laughing even when he was taken off of James’s head. James shot up and sprinted to the table, taking a seat in between Sirius and a redheaded girl.

 

“Hey, I’m James,” he said to her, holding his hand out.

 

She laughed. “I can tell. I’m Lily.” Lily took his hand and shook it.

 

Sirius knew this was going to be an interesting few years.


	2. higher than the empire state

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> remus and peter make an appearance. mcgonagall indirectly gives them a group name. sirius starts a war in the dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is all over the place oops

_POV: Sirius Black_

_Year: First_

 

If the subject was taught by anyone else, Sirius was very sure that he’d hate Potions class. But, even though he disliked the _subject,_ Slughorn was probably the teacher with the most sense of humor, so it was bearable.

 

It was also really funny to see the different, weird ways that people would fail. Given that most of those fails came from his and James’s cauldron, it was about ten times funnier. Even when they were covered in boils, or hives, or anything else. More often than not, they’d have to glance at the table next to them (Lily Evans and some greasy haired kid) to find out what the hell they were supposed to do. Both Sirius and James thought it was a bit pretentious, how the greasy haired kid would write _The Half-Blood Prince_ instead of his actual name in his books. Oh, well. At least he knew how to brew a Cure for Boils, now. Sort of.

 

James, in most areas of life, excelled in messing things up. More specifically, messing things up so that no one would notice until it was too late. Sirius discovered this when James brought a jar of glitter into Potions and proceeded to make sure their cauldron’s contents would explode, covering himself, Sirius, Lily, the greasy haired kid, and a couple other people in shiny, hot pink glitter. One of the kids, a short, skinny boy who looked much younger than eleven, was hunched over, laughing.

 

Lily looked at the two, a murderous look in her eyes. Luckily for Sirius, the class had been dismissed right before that, so he decided his best option was to _get the hell out._ He didn’t think Lily would care if it was James’s fault or not. He’d go down with him. So, he ran, ignoring the boy introducing himself to James, ignoring Slughorn calling after him to clean up, and _definitely_ ignoring Lily’s screaming (“I’ll _kill_ you, Black!”). He ran through the halls, dodging students and teachers, and ran into an empty classroom, slamming the door shut. He got about five seconds of peace before he was pushed out of the way of the door, which slammed shut again.

 

Instinctively, Sirius raised his arms to cover his face. “It was James!”

 

“What?”

 

Sirius lowered his arms slowly, staring directly at the person who had just entered the room. Needless to say, it wasn’t Lily. He sighed in relief. “Thought you were someone else.”

 

Not Lily was tall, with light brown hair and scars across his cheeks. His collar was uneven, and while his expression seemed serious, his eyes held a look that revealed that he was probably as much of a joker as Sirius and James were.

 

“Uh, well. Okay,” said Not Lily. “So, uh, the screaming girl is after you, then?”

 

“Yeah. She _should_ be after James-”

 

“Well, I mean, with all the crap the two of you pull in Potions, I can’t blame her.”

 

Sirius gasped dramatically. “Are you suggesting that I deserve this?”

 

“I’m _suggesting_ that her anger is understandable,” Not Lily explained logically.

 

“So you’re suggesting that I deserve this.”

 

“No, I am not.”

 

“Why are you here, anyway?” Sirius asks, tilting his head.

 

“Angry people don’t like other people in their way. I’m not about to get beaten up by Lily Evans,” Not Lily said with a shrug.

 

“Well, _there’s_ something we agree on.” Sirius cracked open the door, glancing out then shutting it again. “So, do you have a name or should I just keep calling you Not Lily in my head?”

 

“What?” Not Lily raised an eyebrow. “I’m Remus. Lupin.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Remus. Sirius Black.”

 

“I know who you are,” Remus rolled his eyes.

 

Sirius was about to make another witty remark when the door at the end of the classroom slammed open. “Black!”

 

_“Run!”_

 

Sirius grabbed Remus by the wrist and pulled him out of the classroom, sprinting through the people going to the Great Hall for lunch. Lily still ran after the two, yelling. Remus yelled as well, but it was more along the lines of _Why am I now part of this?!_ Nonetheless, he ran with Sirius, because an angry Lily is not something you want to stop running from. Eventually, they ran into James and the other boy, who were confused at first, but noticed Lily on their tail and immediately began sprinting with them. They ran the length of the hallway before they heard a voice behind them.

 

“Boys! Miss Evans! What is this?”

 

All five of them turned to see Professor McGonagall looking down at them sternly. “I’m going to choose not to ask why four out of five of you are covered in glitter. You know that it is dangerous to run in the halls. I will not warn you again.” She looked over the five of them once more before turning and walking back down the hall.

 

The four boys looked at each other for a second, then burst out laughing.

 

Lily pointed at them. “I _will_ get you back for this,” she said before storming off.

 

The boys still laughed. Once they had calmed down, the new boy stood up straight. He had sandy hair, a smile that revealed ever-so-slightly crooked teeth, and dark eyes. Through gaps in his hair, Sirius could see acne scattered across his forehead. The skin on his round face was, otherwise, clear.

 

“Running for our lives might have gotten in the way of introductions. I’m Peter,” he said with a small wave.

 

Sirius and Remus introduced themselves to him, as well. Sirius grinned uncontrollably. The four of them, though they had known each other for a few minutes at most (with the exception of James and Sirius), already felt like they’d been friends for months. Maybe it was the fact that eleven year olds tend to feel like that, but he wasn’t sure.

 

* * *

 

The four boys were a teacher’s worst nightmare. They passed notes in class, played jokes on other students, and talked out of turn. Sometimes they’d be discreet about it, but usually, it was very noticeable when the four were planning something. Especially to Professor McGonagall.

 

“Mister Potter, please refrain from sticking things in Miss McKinnon’s hair.”

 

“Mister Black, I will remind you that we are transfiguring _pins_ , not Mister Pettigrew’s Potions set.”

 

“Mister Lupin, I can see you reaching into my desk. I do not appreciate having four young marauders in my classroom, so please return to your seat.”

 

“Marauders,” Sirius had muttered. “That sounds cool.”

 

James and Peter agreed. “That’s us. The Marauders.”

 

Remus laughed shortly. “Isn’t that a bit pretentious?”

 

“Exactly! It’s meant to be,” James said, tilting his chair backwards and putting his hands behind his head.

 

Professor McGonagall transfigured his chair into a pin, identical to the ones on everyone else’s desk. James fell to the floor with a grunt.

 

“You seemed to have misplaced your pin, Mister Potter. Get to work,” she said.

 

The rest of the newly dubbed Marauders laughed. McGonagall had a twinkle in her eye and a slight curve to her mouth, as if she were silently laughing with the three.

 

* * *

 

That night, the four of them lay in their respective bunks, talking.

 

“Do pigeons get songs stuck in their heads?” Sirius asked.

 

“Go to sleep,” Remus mumbled from the bed next to his.

 

“No, but seriously,” Sirius continued. “Do their brains have the capacity?”

 

“When do you think of these things?” Peter’s voice asked from across the room.

 

“At these times,” Sirius says, his arms outstretched in disbelief.

 

“ _Why_ do you think of these things, Sirius?” James continued the questioning.

 

“Why not? I need an answer to this question.”

 

“I doubt that pigeons get songs stuck in their heads,” said Remus, “because pigeons don’t spend much time listening to music.”

 

“How do you know that?” Sirius raised an eyebrow.

 

“He’s a spy for the pigeons, here to observe our actions and report to the Pigeon King,” James explained. He earned a laugh from Peter.

 

“Oh, no, how could you have figured me out so easily,” Remus said sarcastically, though he was laughing as well.

 

“Is that why you’ve got such long arms? Did it carry over from the wings?” Sirius asked, sitting upright.

 

Remus threw a pillow at him. It hit Sirius dead in the face, making him fall backwards into a lying down position.

 

“Oh, it is on,” he grinned, throwing the pillow back.

 

“Hey, don’t leave us out!” Peter said, chucking one of his own pillows at Sirius.

 

“Yeah, we need more opportunities to beat you at things,” James smirked, holding a pillow like a shield, deflecting the one that was thrown at him by Sirius.

 

Soon, the four were in an all-out pillow fight, like little girls at a sleepover. Everyone got hit in the face at least once. For Sirius, it was much more than once. James was the best at dodging pillows, but Remus managed to hit him just once, causing his glasses to go askew.

 

Sirius was in the middle of aiming at James when Peter caught him in the chest, causing him to fall to the floor with a thud.

 

“Dogpile!” James shouted, falling on top of Sirius, with Remus and Peter following suit.

 

“Oof- _guys,”_ Sirius laughed, trying and failing to push the three off of him.

 

“Nope. You’re trapped forever,” Peter said from the top of the pile.

 

“Resistance is futile,” Remus added.

 

“Nerd,” Sirius muttered, sticking his tongue out.

 

The other three refused to give up, even and especially when Peter began snoring on top of the rest of the boys. Admitting defeat, the remaining three Marauders fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

Sirius woke up first. Deciding to answer the physical pain in his chest, he wiggled slightly, trying to wake up the other three.

 

“Oi. Wake up, or I’ll start singing.”

 

“I’m up, please don’t torture us,” James said immediately.

 

“Good. Get _off_ me, nerds,” Sirius responded, laughing under his breath at the events of last night.

 

Eventually, he got the three to get off of him, and celebrated his freedom by stretching out his back and neck, which _crack_ ed loudly.

 

“Well,” Sirius said. “I get the shower first, bye!” he quickly spat out the last words, sprinting to the bathroom despite the protests of his dorm mates.

 

Yep. The best of friends.


	3. askin' about a scar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse at what Remus is like after a full moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> are y'all seeing what im doing with the chapter names yet

_ POV: Remus Lupin _

_ Year: First _

 

Remus didn’t understand why Peter, James, and Sirius were friends with him. He was a  _ monster. _ Innocent creatures had  _ died _ because of him. Not that the other Marauders knew this, of course. It wasn’t all that obvious that he was a werewolf- unless the others had noticed his scars and monthly disappearances and knew he was one already, in which case they were probably only friends with him out of pity. His excuses were admittedly subpar, at best. There was no doubt that his friends were at least a little suspicious by now.

 

All these thoughts raced through his mind when he woke up in the newly dubbed Shrieking Shack- named for his screams during every transformation. This one had evidently been one of the worse months he’d experiences. He didn’t remember much of the previous nights, but the closing wounds on his calves and shoulders seemed to indicate that it hadn’t been as peaceful as he’d hoped it would be. Since he couldn’t really leave the Shrieking Shack, he assumed that he’d done it to himself in the night due to a lack of animals to attack. Deciding not to dwell too much on the events of the last few days, he exited through the Whomping Willow’s passage, casting a spell to immobilize the tree before limping as quickly as he could up to the dorms. He hoped that his friends would be asleep, though of course, he had no such luck.

 

“Where’ve you been?” Peter asked as their dorm’s door  _ creaked _ open.

 

“Uh.. My mum was, uh, ill. My dad’s always at work, so she needed me to take care of her,” he said quickly, his eyes directed at his feet.

 

Peter shrugged. “Alright, if you insist. The work you missed is on your bed,” he pointed over at Remus’s bed, neatly made, with a few pieces of written-on parchment resting on the covers.

 

“Thanks,” Remus muttered, trying to walk normally to his bed, as to avoid more suspicion. He picked up the parchment and looked them over. Each one had different handwriting, with homework for certain classes on it. Sirius had copied down the homework for Transfiguration, Potions, and Astronomy, James had done Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Peter had written the work for History of Magic and Herbology. He smiled as he looked at the papers, grateful that he had friends who would actually do things for him, even if it was as small as giving him the past few days’ homework. It gave him peace of mind, until a piece of his mind reminded him that once they found out what he was, it would be all over. They’d want nothing to do with him.

 

_ Shut up, _ he told himself as he set the parchment on his bedside table and climbed under the covers of his four poster, intending to sleep right up until it was time for breakfast. He’d likely get woken up by James and Sirius, anyways, since they had no sense of an  _ inside voice.  _ The thought that he’d be virtually unable to oversleep gave him comfort as he slowly dozed off, the world around him becoming a blur to make way for the subconscious. 

 

* * *

 “Remus is back!”

 

The aforementioned boy raised his head up from his pillow groggily.  “Good observation,” he said quietly to James, who was standing over him.

 

James poked him in the arm. Remus had to avoid flinching from the contact as James continued doing it, saying, “Get up,” with each poke.

 

“Alright, alright, I’m getting up,” he waved away James’s hand, throwing the covers off of himself and standing up straight. Sirius and Peter were changing into their uniforms, while James was still in his pajamas. He shooed the spectacled boy away to his own bed before changing into his own uniform.

 

_ “Woah.  _ How’d you get that, Remus?” Sirius’s awe-filled voice said from behind him. 

 

Remus looked over his shoulder to see Sirius pointing at his shoulder, where the scars from the first night of his transformation were now closing.

 

“Uh, my mum’s.. owl scratched me,” he said, looking back and pulling on his collared shirt, buttoning it up.

 

“Must’ve been angry, those look pretty bad,” Peter drew his eyebrows together in concern.

 

“Yeah. I’m fine, though,” Remus figuratively shrugged off the questions, instead focusing his attention on correctly tying his tie and tugging on his blazer and pants. He turned around to face the other three, who were waiting for him by the door.

 

“Finally, slowpoke. Hurry up!” said James, waving his hands animatedly.

 

Remus laughed under his breath, walking over to join his friends as they pushed open the door and bounded down the stairs to the common room. He followed as best he could with his injured leg, but thankfully none of the Marauders said anything about it, only that he was a “rotten egg,” since he was the last one down the steps. Remus preferred being a rotten egg to being a freak. Not that he  _ wasn’t _ a freak. His friends just didn’t think so. Yet. 

 

They all followed the hordes of people to the Great Hall for breakfast. Remus ate the most out of anyone, even more than Peter, who had piled his plate so that it was completely full. 

 

“Woah there, Remus. You’re gonna choke on something,” James said, laughing.

 

“‘M hungry,” he responded, covering his mouth slightly so that the others didn’t see his mouthful of eggs.

 

“Try not to explode, will you?” Sirius asked as McGonagall walked down the length of the table, handing out schedules. He looked over his once he got it and groaned. “Ugh, double Potions with the Slytherins today.”

 

Remus looked at his own schedule, muttering an “Ugh,” in agreement with Sirius’s tone of disgust.  The class may have been the reason the four of them met, but that didn’t mean they had to  _ like _ it. It was still as pleasant as a diseased bullfrog.

 

* * *

 

 

Remus got through most of his classes at a normal pace, trying to keep up with the lessons despite his four days of absence. Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed to be the easiest- though, no matter what, he had excelled in the subject. Transfiguration, to put it simply, kicked his ass. McGonagall may have known about his condition, but her strict teaching ways did not waver.

 

He didn’t eat much at lunch- he was still full from how much he’d had at breakfast- so he busied himself with the work he’d missed over the full moon. Just his luck, that week they had to write an essay on pixies and ‘how they had aided in modern wizardry.’ He skipped over that, deciding to answer questions in his Transfiguration book, instead. At least  _ that _ didn’t require too much thought. The free period was spent in the library, scribbling words onto parchment for that essay.  Potions was simple, but still difficult, seeing as half of the ingredients were things he hadn’t heard of before. More than once, he had to ask Sirius what a certain term meant, or where the hell to find an ingredient. The other boy was surprisingly patient with him, explaining or pointing them out right away. James would occasionally interrupt Sirius, responding to Remus’s confusion with a completely ridiculous answer while Peter tried to hide his laughs behind his hand. 

 

At dinner, Remus returned to eating like a starving man, his hunger renewed from all the stress of the day. He’d always hated the first day back from a full moon, and he only knew it would get more difficult as time passed. He saw how the fifth years stressed over their slowly approaching O.W.Ls, and dreaded having to deal with that when the time came. 

 

“You’re going to eat yourself into a coma, I swear,” James shook his head.

 

“God, I hope so,” Remus said jokingly, earning a laugh from the other three.

 

Most nights, Remus slept lightly. After transformations, he was near impossible to wake up. That night, he passed out the minute his head touched his pillow. When he woke up and trudged into the bathroom, he was greeted by his face in the mirror, covered in quill ink drawings and writing.

 

“Wow, thanks,” he said through the door, getting to work on cleaning it off.

 

“You’re welcome!” Peter’s voice responded as the other two laughed.

 

Despite the drawings on his face, Remus was glad that he had friends to make his days after the full moon bearable.

 

For now.


	4. subtle things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a few situations where lily evans was utterly sick of james potter's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short!! i'll try to get up longer ones but i'm never able to focus for too long and i like to write a chapter all at once so i dont end up abandoning it,,

_ POV: James Potter _

_ Year: Second _

 

James Potter and Lily Evans were, to say the least, not exactly the best of friends through their first year.  _ Friends _ probably wasn’t the best word for their relationship, either. It was less  _ love-hate  _ and more  _ hate-tolerate. _ At least, that’s what the two of them would say. James  _ definitely  _ didn’t try to get her attention with all his silly antics or pranks. Lily one-hundred percent did not seek out his efforts to grab her attention. James, with a crush on Lily Evans? Ha. He didn’t  _ like _ her, or the way her hair fell around her shoulders, or how her eyes sparkled in the sunlight, or the way she laughed at her friends’ jokes.  _ Totally  _ not. And, even if he did(he  _ didn’t _ ), so what? It wasn’t like they were gonna end up married or anything. A little second-year crush means nothing. But it  _ wasn’t _ a crush.

 

He told his friends as much when they asked him. They took turns expressing their disbelief.

 

“Mhm,” Remus nodded sarcastically, his arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Yeah, of course,” Peter said, tapping his foot and looking off into the distance.

 

“Yep. No crush at all,” Sirius disguised a laugh as a cough.

 

“I  _ don’t _ like her!” James said, offended that they would even  _ indirectly _ suggest such a thing.

 

“No, no, we totally believe you. You don’t like her. Got it,” Remus gave him a sardonic thumbs up.

 

“Don’t like who?” asked Lily, who had just walked down the stairs from the girls’ dormitories.

 

“No one!” said each of the Marauders in unison. They may have been jokesters with each other, but they were  _ not _ traitors. Revealing ‘nonexistent’ crushes counts as treachery.

 

Lily raised an eyebrow, then rolled her eyes. “If you say so. You four should be getting to breakfast soon.”

 

“Will do, Mum,” responded Sirius, laughing.

 

Lily scoffed and exited the common room, grumbling as she slammed the door behind her. The Fat Lady squawked indignantly- she did not take kindly to her door being slammed shut. The four boys followed not long after, Remus turning and uttering a quick apology to the Fat Lady. She seemed sated, for now. 

 

* * *

At breakfast, the Marauders were as much of a nuisance as ever. They talked with their mouths open, yelled across the length of the table and chucked food at other students, and generally just had no sense of manners whatsoever. 

 

“Are you incapable of being mature?” Lily asked sternly, standing and pulling a greasy piece of bacon out of her hair. 

 

“We’re twelve, Evans,” said James. “We’re supposed to be immature.”

 

Lily frowned. It was likely that she would have said something else, but Marlene McKinnon grabbed her arm, pulling her down gently and muttering, “It’s not worth it.” She settled for an eyeroll and occasional glares throughout the rest of breakfast.

 

They had double Transfiguration that day, which James always looked forward to. The class and its contents just seemed to click with him. Or, maybe he just found it easier than History of Magic. Of course, it did help that McGonagall seemed to warm up ever so slightly to the four, joking with them, but still remaining strict. It had become fun over the past year.

 

During class, Lily glared at them exactly four times. Once when Remus accidentally set his glass on fire because he wasn’t paying attention, twice when Peter tossed a new one across the classroom and nearly hit Mary MacDonald in the head, thrice when James and Sirius fell onto the floor laughing, and four times when James ended up knocking his own glass off of the desk. Not that James was paying attention to Evans, or anything. He just found it funny, that’s all.

 

* * *

 The next night, after dinner, him and the other three boys enchanted a bunch of water balloons and had a water fight in the middle of the common room(Of course, they had cleaned it of all precious items first. Homework, parchment, books, etc). The four danced around the chairs and tables, dodging balloons with the grace of twenty elephants in a trench coat. That is to say, not very graceful. Their footsteps and laughter could be heard all the way from the girls’ dormitory, and Lily took it upon herself to tell them as much.

 

“You’re making a ruckus! Not to mention your utter destruction of the common room!”

 

“Are you  _ sure _ you’re not our mum, Lily?” Peter asked.

 

“I am-”

 

One of the balloons that were whizzing around came forward and smacked her in the face. She stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, before taking out her wand and sending a barrage of the balloons after the other boys. They fell to the ground, soaked and laughing their asses off. James caught a glimpse of Lily’s face, seeing that she was laughing as well.

 

Afterwards, she helped the boys clean up. James thought it only fair, since she was the reason the opposite wall was covered in bits of balloon. Peter cast a Hot-Air charm to dry off the chairs and other things that got wet, including themselves.

 

“How do you know that charm?” asked Lily, impressed. “Isn’t it a few years ahead?”

 

Peter shrugged. “I got bored and stole a fifth years’ Charms book.”

 

“And you didn’t tell us?” Remus asked, incredulous.

 

“So many lost opportunities!” Sirius said dramatically, falling backwards into a chair, damsel-in-distress style.

 

James and Lily exchanged a look, like:  _ Can you believe these dorks? _ They quickly looked away.

 

* * *

 

 “Sooo-” Sirius began, lying on his stomach with his head resting on his hands. “What was that look between you and Lily?”

 

James looked up from his overdue essay. “What do you mean?”

 

“You and the girl you’re in love with were eyeing each other,” Remus explained.

 

“I am  _ not _ in love with anyone,” James said in offense. "And we were not  _eyeing_ each other."

 

“You’re so in love with her,” Peter added.

 

“Am  _ not.” _

 

_ “And they called it puppy love,”  _ Remus sang, jumping onto James’s bed.  _ “Oh, I guess they’ll never know / How a young heart really feels / And why I love her so-” _

 

James pushed him off. “Shut up,” he laughed.

 

Sirius and Peter were both struggling to catch their breath through their own laughter.

 

Remus continued singing from his place on the floor.  _ “And they called it puppy love / Just because we’re in our teens / Tell them all, please tell them it isn’t fair / To take away my only dream.” _

 

“Please tell me you don’t have that song memorized,” James said in disbelief.

 

“I don’t..  _ not _ have the song memorized.”

 

“Oh my  _ god.” _

 

The boys laughed even harder.

 

“You guys are the  _ worst,” _ James lied.

 

“Aww, Jemmy, you love us,” cooed Sirius.

 

 “Don’t deny it, you know we’re the best,” Peter grinned.

 

James could not deny it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im trying to include peter as much as possible despite the fact that we know virtually nothing about him. thanks jkr  
> also the marauders making fun of james's crush on lily with cheesy love songs is my new aesthetic. the song remus was singing is puppy love by donny osmond. (its from 1972!! its appropriate to the time period!! it took me two hours to find a fitting song from the early 1970s!!! i cant wait until year 7 and afterwards so i can use songs from grease!!!


	5. normal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the marauders reveal... something. remus gets a new nickname.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning, there's a sor t of maybe graphic description of remus's transformation, ive started and ended with with a thing in parenthesis so you can skip it if you want to.

_POV: Remus Lupin_

_Year: Second_

 

Of _course._

 

Of course the full moon just _had_ to fall a week before exams. Because it couldn’t wait till _afterwards._ No, not at all. God damned moon. Fuck you and your stupid craters.

 

As Professor McGonagall rushed him to the Whomping Willow, Remus thought about how nice it would be to fight with the moon. One on one, behind the lockers at 3, or whatever Muggle kids say. Sadly, the moon was an object, not a human. A very _large_ object, for that matter. Virtually unable to be fought. He comforted himself with the fact that many religions saw Fate as human(or multiple humans), so he could just fight them when the time came.

 

“Good luck, Mister Lupin,” said Professor McGonagall, immobilizing the tree and sending him on his way through the passage into the Shrieking Shack. Remus _really_ hated that name.

 

When he finally got into the shack, he sat at the window, waiting for the sun to set. He could still see students leaving Hogsmeade. One group who had been hanging around the shack nearly saw him, but Remus quickly fell to the floor. He didn’t want to risk being found out by complete strangers. Hopefully, they’d just think their minds were playing tricks on them, and pay no more attention.

 

* * *

 

Around an hour later, the sun began to set. Remus mentally prepared himself for what was to come, and also mentally cursed his mind for making the sunset seem much shorter than it actually was. He moved to the center of the floor and curled up when he saw the last rays of run disappearing, his fists clenched to somehow prepare for the pain. Every month, he tried some way to lessen the pain he knew he’d feel. Every month, he’d fail.

 

**(HEY SKIP THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT THE DESCRIPTION OF HIS TRANSFORMATION)**

 

When the first beams of moonlight shone through the window, Remus’s heart dropped. Here it came.

 

His bones cracked audibly, all at once, as they changed shape to fit his wolf form. The skull and legs were always the most painful- they had to change much more than his arms or spine did. His head throbbed, and his arms instinctively clutched at his stomach. Even that became painful, soon, when his claws began to grow in. He heard a scream that he knew came from him, but even after all these years, it never sounded like him. It was a garbled shriek of agony, something that didn’t sound even remotely human- because it wasn’t. He sympathized with the townspeople who had to hear this every month. Even though he was the one who had to go through it, he couldn’t imagine it being very pleasant for the shop owners or their customers, either. That thought was pushed from his mind as the wolf took it over.

 

**(ALRIGHT ITS OVER)**

 

He stood, bounding over to the window and putting his front paws on the sill, howling out of the window.

 

* * *

 

When he changed back three days later, the first thing he thought was that he was hungry. _Very_ hungry. Glad that the sun rose early, he stood, stretching out his back and legs, and made his way back out of the passageway. Same routine.

 

Except that it was different this time.

 

When he got to the dorms this time, all three of the other Marauders were up.

 

“So what was it this time?” James asked from his bed.

 

“Uh-” Remus paused. “Well, my.. aunt’s dog died, and she’s pretty superstitious, so she had to have a whole ceremony for it-”

 

“We know you’re a werewolf, Remus,” said Sirius simply.

 

“You _what?”_ Remus panicked internally.

 

“It’s the only logical explanation. The scars, the disappearances every month that _just so happen_ to be during the full moon,” Peter told him.

 

“Oh,” Remus sighed defeatedly. “Well, then. I’ll.. understand if you want me to switch dorms or something.”

 

“What?” Sirius sat upright. “Why would we want to kick you out?”

 

“B-because I’m a _monster,”_ Remus said, incredulous.

 

“Remus. You fold your socks. Forgive me if I’m not trembling at the sight of you,” James stated matter-of-factly.

 

“I-”

 

“Y’know, at first, I thought it was pretty cool. But then I read some stuff about it, and I’ve decided you’re _totally_ badass for having to go through that. Seriously,” Sirius grinned at him.

 

“Sirius-ly,” added Peter.

 

Remus laughed despite himself. He was relieved. His friends _didn’t_ think that he was a freak, or insane, or anything other than who he was before. Except maybe _totally badass._ He could live with Sirius Black thinking that about him. Worse things have happened.

 

“Well, first things first-” James said, interrupting Remus’s inner monologue. “You need to go to the infirmary. Have you been coming back every month without getting those cuts treated? They could get infected, you know…” He stood and began pushing Remus to the door.

 

“Wow, and we say Lily’s like our mum.” The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he followed James down the stairs. Sirius and Peter’s footsteps could be heard behind them.  

 

* * *

 

 

“Lord!” exclaimed Madame Pomfrey when she saw Remus. “What on _earth_ happened to you?”

 

“Um-”

 

Peter interrupted. “We left our window open, ma’am, and a rogue owl flew in. Since Remus is closest to the window… well, you see what happened next.”

 

“Hm,” Madame Pomfrey looked Peter in the eyes. Thankfully, she saw no evidence of a lie in his face, so she sighed and led Remus to a bed, rushing off to her cabinets. “You three should get back to your dorm and close your window, if you haven’t. Your friend will be back for breakfast.”

 

Sirius looked like he wanted to protest, but Madame Pomfrey gave him a look that told him to _definitely_ not do that. He cleared his throat, turned, and walked out of the infirmary, the other two following after smiling and waving good-bye at Remus.

 

* * *

 

 

Remus entered the Great Hall for breakfast a few hours later, almost expecting every head to turn and stare at him before he scolded himself. _They’re my friends. They won’t tell anyone._ Thankfully, only three heads turned to look at him, all accompanied by wide grins and hands waving him towards them.

  


He laughed, making his way to the other three Marauders. James scooted over, making room for him. The two of them sat across from Sirius and Peter, who both greeted him normally. That was the word for this. _Normal._ Remus still was surprised that they treated him no differently than they had when they thought he was human. They joked with him normally. They talked with him normally. It was the same as always, except now Remus felt a little more comfortable in his skin, knowing that he no longer had to lie to his friends. He had someone to share his secret with.

 

During Potions that day, him and James wasted time by flicking lacewing flies into Severus Snape’s cauldron until Lily told them off for it. They spent the remainder of the class rushing to finish their potion correctly. Remus had to stop James from just throwing whatever in there many, many times.

 

In Transfiguration, they had to prepare for their performance exam by practicing changing frogs into goldfish.

 

“Oi, Moony,” said Sirius. “Do you think, if I just conveniently lost my frog, I wouldn’t have to do this?”

 

 _“Moony?”_ Remus raised an eyebrow at the new nickname. “And, no, I’m very sure Professor McGonagall would just give you a new frog.”

 

“Your friend is right, Mister Black,” said Professor McGonagall, smiling proudly at Remus despite her stern words. Evidently, the nickname had tipped her off to the Marauders knowing of Remus’s affliction. He smiled back.

 

At lunch, the four all piled their plates and talked about their lessons and upcoming exams.

 

“Ugh. I am definitely not looking forward to that Potions exam,” James grimaced, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

 

“Me too. It’s like I’ve learned nothing!” exclaimed Sirius.

 

“That’s because you’ve _done_ nothing,” Remus explained.

 

Sirius chucked a bit of food at Remus’s face. He dodged, laughing. “You know I’m right.”

 

“Yes, I do, and I hate it.”

 

Peter laughed at the two through a mouthful of his chicken sandwich.

 

And it was _normal._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop, there it is. i love professor mcgonagall. also, i just spent two hours copying down the steps to becoming an animagus. it begins next chapter.


	6. for remus.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the process of becoming an animagus begins. pov switches a lot here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> step one: for the space on one month(full moon to full moon), a single leaf from a mandrake must be carried constantly in the mouth.   
> step two: remove the leaf at the full moon and place it in a small crystal phial that receives the pure rays of the moon. to the moon-struck phial, add one of your own hairs, a silver teaspoon of dew collected from a place that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched for a full seven days, and the chrysalis of a death's head hawk-moth. put this mixture in a quiet, dark place and do not look at or disturb it until the next electrical storm.
> 
> these steps were taken from this fic: http://archiveofourown.org/works/8329483/chapters/19077784  
> its based off of the pottermore article, so its canon! woo!!

_ POV: Peter Pettigrew _

_ Year: Third _

 

Peter knew it was too late to back out of their plan when they got the Mandrake leaves.

 

Not that he  _ wanted  _ to back out! He didn’t! It was just.. a tad scary, that’s all. He still planned to go through with it, for Remus. So,  _ for Remus, _ he stood watch outside greenhouse two, under cover of the invisibility cloak, while Sirius and James plucked three leaves from the head of a buried Mandrake. He stared up at the full moon, waiting and waiting and waiting for what seemed like forever. Just as Peter worried that something had happened, the two opened the greenhouse door silently and whisper-called for Peter.

 

 _“Psst!_ _Peter!”_ whispered Sirius.

 

“Over here,” he responded, lifting up the cloak so James and Sirius could join him. Soon, he knew, it wouldn’t be big enough for the three of them, but that wasn’t something he should dwell on now. Now, they had to get back to their dorm and come up with an excuse for the Mandrake leaves that they’d be holding in their mouths for a month before the sun rose.  _ For Remus. _

 

“We could.. uh, say we got cursed,” suggested James.

 

“No, that could easily be debunked,” Sirius shook his head, tossing the quill he was holding across the room. “I wish Remus was here. He’d probably have an idea in a millisecond.”

 

“But he isn’t, so we’re going to have to make do with what we’ve got. And that’s us,” Peter said, a comforting tone in his voice. 

 

James nodded, thinking. “We could make a joke about it. Like, make up a new thing every week.”

 

“We’re.. protesting the.. unfair silencing of, hmm… house elves?” Sirius asked.

 

“Nah, that’d anger the house elves. Maybe the centaurs?” Peter proposed, looking up at the two, who were on their beds while Peter lay on the floor.

 

“As long as we don’t end up pissing off the centaurs, I’m okay with that,” James shuddered, most likely remembering the last time they angered the creatures in the Forbidden Forest. Peter disliked recalling the events, but both him and Sirius silently agreed- they did  _ not _ want a repeat of the flobberworm incident. What happens in the forest,  _ stays _ in the forest.

 

“And we can probably use mini chalkboards or something, hang ‘em around our necks so we can write what we say,” Sirius laughed at the idea.

 

“How’re we going to eat?” asked James.

 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Peter said. “We’ve got a,.. half plan. Leaf time?”

 

“Leaf time,” James agreed.

 

He pulled the three leaves out of the inside pocket of his robes and handed one to both Sirius and Peter. Thankfully, he hadn’t picked ones that were  _ too _ big- they had to account for the fact that they were still only thirteen, and as a result of their youth, they had relatively small jaws. Not very useful when you need to hold something in your mouth for a whole month. 

 

The three stuck the leaves in their mouths. Sirius nearly inhaled his by accident and was sent into a sudden coughing fit, leaving the other two to laugh relentlessly at him. 

 

There was definitely no turning back, now.

* * *

_ POV: Remus Lupin _

 

When Remus returned after the full moon, he was confused, to say the least, as to why the hell his friends were refusing to talk. 

 

Sirius wasn’t much help. He only wrote _you’ll see_ _:)_ in his messy, scrawling handwriting and refused to say anything more on the matter. James shrugged, writing that it was “for a prank,” though he couldn’t understand what kind of prank would involve _this._

 

When he asked Peter, though, he finally got a straight answer. He had never really liked lying to his friends, and Remus was glad that he was not the exception. 

 

_ Mandrake leaves in our mouths… _ he had written. Remus could practically feel hear the hesitant tone in his writing. 

 

“Mandrake leaves in your- why, exactly?” he asked, tilting his head.

 

Peter pointed to a thin book that lay on one of the desks in the dorm. Remus picked it up, reading the title on the cover:  _ A Wizard’s Guide to Becoming an Animagus. _

 

“You-” Remus was in shock. “This is- what the- how? Isn’t it really dangerous? Not to mention illegal, I doubt you’re registering yourselves. And what if it doesn’t work? And  _ why?”  _ His questions tumbled out of his mouth at a mile per second.

 

All three of them had the same message on their boards:  _ For you. _

 

“Wh… What do you  _ mean, _ for me? Surely, you’re not-”

 

Sirius held up his board, which he had just quickly erased and written on again.  _ werewolves won’t attack animals that don’t attack them. i think. we can help you in full moon. _

 

“You-” Remus’s head was still reeling. “So you’re illegally becoming shapeshifters.”

 

_ Yeah, basically, _ James wrote.

 

“Good lord.”

 

* * *

_ POV: Sirius Black _

_ The next full moon _

 

Quick rundown of the next month: Sirius, James, and Peter found it very difficult to do any spells. At all. Turns out that having a leaf in your mouth kind of interferes with the pronunciation of the letter  _ s. _ Remus was having a great time, laughing whenever any of the three tried to say even a basic Levitation spell _ (Wingardium Leviosha _ did not levitate. It did succeed in blowing up Snivellus’s quill, so at least it got a laugh). They also discovered that eating without ingesting the leaf was also proving to be a problem, so their diet for the month became strictly soup. Sirius and James thought that was particularly torturous. Many teachers didn’t question their silence, as they were probably relieved and didn’t want to jinx it by asking. 

 

Sirius knew that this one night could make or break their next month. If it was cloudy, and they couldn’t get pure moonlight, they’d have to start all over, and that would  _ really _ be a pain in the ass.

 

Thankfully, through some magic, Scotland decided to be kind to them and bless the three with a relatively clear sky. They stood in a secluded spot outside the castle, their phials ready. To be honest, Sirius just  _ really _ wanted that damned leaf out of his mouth. Once the moon was in sight, they pulled the leaves out of their mouths and stuffed them in the phials, holding them up so that they’d- hopefully- catch the beams of moonlight. One by one, they saw the light reflect through their phials, and they sighed, relieved.

 

Back in their dorm, they prepared for the rest of the potion. The chrysalis of a Death’s-head Hawk moth(which they’d stolen from Professor Slughorn’s office), a silver teaspoon of dew, collected from a place where neither human feet nor sunlight had touched for a full seven days(they’d had to bribe some of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest for it), and one of their own hairs. They’d also need a quiet, dark place where they couldn’t look or disturb the potions. Luckily, Peter had found just the place when walking past a wall that he’d thought to be just that- a wall. It turned out that, according to Remus and  _ Hogwarts: A History, _ the wall was the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Whatever it was called, they had a place to store the potions until the next electrical storm. Which, knowing their country’s weather, would not be anytime soon. 

 

The three ventured to the Room, entered it, mixed their potions, and left them in a chest that the Room had kindly supplied for them. They then closed the door, watching as it sank back into the wall, and returned to their dorm.

 

Yeah, they might get caught. Yeah, this was highly illegal, and would take a painstakingly long amount of time. But none of them cared.

 

They were doing this for Remus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short im hungry and tired its 12 am lmao i should go to bed


	7. waiting. forever. send help.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3\. While waiting for the storm, the following procedure should be followed at sunrise and sundown. The tip of the wand should be placed over the heart and the following incantation spoken: "Amato Animo Animato Animagus."
> 
> the third step begins. the boys return to speaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so short im sorry i just wanted to get something out after that gap,,, oops

_ POV: James Potter _

_ Year: Third _

 

“You guys ready?” asked James, the morning after they made their potions.

 

Sirius and Peter nodded. They watched the first rays of the sun cut through darkness, and collectively decided they shouldn’t waste any more time. They held the tip of their wands against their hearts and spoke the incantation together.

 

_ “Amato Animo Animato Animagus.” _

 

Nothing happened. Of course, nothing was  _ meant _ to happen, but it was odd, to feel like you were casting a spell and then be greeted by nothing.

 

“That was eventful,” Sirius said sarcastically.

 

“It wasn’t meant to be,” Peter pointed out.

 

“Yeah, but.. still.”

 

James nodded. “Well. We should probably get some more sleep before breakfast. We all know how grumpy you are without your beauty sleep, Sirius.”

 

“I am not  _ grumpy, _ I just don’t like not being well rested, and when I’m not, I get a bit…”

 

“Grumpy,” Peter finished his sentence, jumping onto his bed and under the covers. 

 

Sirius stuck his tongue out. 

 

* * *

 

James woke up two hours later to the sound of someone trying- and failing- to enter their dorm quietly. He threw a pillow in the direction of the door and heard a grunt.

 

“Good morning to you, too, James,” said Remus.

 

“Whoops.”

 

_ “Sorry for throwing a pillow at you, Remus!”  _ he continued in a high pitched voice. “Oh, no problem, James, it’s absolutely okay!”

 

“I’m tired, Moony,” James said defensively.

 

“Shut  _ up, _ ” Sirius grumbled, the sound of his voice muffled by his pillow. 

 

Remus flung James’s pillow at Sirius. “Is there a reason you guys are so tired?” 

 

“We were up at sunrise for a thing,” explained Peter.

 

“A  _ thing. _ I’m so enlightened.”

 

“For the whole becoming-an-Animagus thing,” James said.

 

“You’re really serious about that?” Remus tilted his head.

 

“Mandrake leaves, Moony. Fucking  _ mandrake leaves. _ Yeah, we’re serious,” Sirius sat up, tossing James’s pillow back at its owner.

 

“Hm. Alright, then. You should be getting up soon, or you’ll miss breakfast,” Remus informed them.

 

The three shot out of bed. They may have been tired, but hunger objectively trumps exhaustion.

 

* * *

 

At breakfast, half their year was happy that the three were talking again. The other half wished they’d go back to being silent. Lily was among the latter half.

 

“Can I pay you to keep doing the not-talking thing?” she asked James.

 

“Depends on your price, Evans. I only take the highest of bids for my silence,” he joked, grinning.

 

“I offer my family home and my first born child.”

 

“I’ll offer all my family’s possessions and my actual soul,” said Remus from across the table, not even looking up from his food.

 

James scoffed. “Betrayal, Moony. You can’t side with the  _ enemy.” _

 

Lily laughed, returning her attention to gossiping with Mary and Marlene.

 

Remus shrugged. “Can’t help it if it was more peaceful with you three quiet,” he said, hiding a laugh of his own behind his hand.

 

“I’m hurt,” Sirius inserted himself into the conversation dramatically, putting a hand to his heart.

 

“Truly wounded,” Peter added in.

 

* * *

 

“That offer still stands.” Remus sighed exaggeratedly as the Marauders walked to class.

 

“The world would probably  _ end _ if humanity didn’t have our beautiful voices to listen to. Do you want to end the world, Moony?” asked Sirius.

 

“Yes.” Remus looked directly at Sirius as he said the word.

 

There was a moment of silence before the four burst into laughter.

 

“I see you three have decided to start speaking again,” said Professor McGonagall when they walked into her classroom.

 

“Aw, you noticed!” James put a hand to his chest proudly.

 

“Yes, it was quite problematic that you refused to say any spells after a week, Mister Potter. Hopefully, you won’t have too much trouble with the new unit.”

 

“No worries, Professor. This’ll be a piece of cake,” said James.

 

He couldn’t be sure, but he  _ swore _ he heard McGonagall mutter “There are many worries with you,” under her breath. James chose to take offense to this. Him,  _ worrying? _ How could that be possible?

 

* * *

 

When dinner came, James took it upon himself to check a wristwatch he’d latched around his forearm every few minutes, almost obsessively waiting for sundown to arrive so that they could get the incantation over with. Him and the other three boys had had to estimate when exactly it would happen, based of the time of the sun rising, the average daytime period at this time of year, and other dumb things. He wished there was an easier way to do it. Alas, there was not, so they took the more difficult route. Besides, it was worth it. When the time finally arrived, he glanced at Sirius and Peter and nodded in their direction, then towards the doors to the Great Hall. The two understood perfectly, and uttered a quick  _ be right back _ to Remus before sprinting out and down the halls to their dorm.

 

“This is hell,” Peter said, hunched over and wheezing.

 

“Truly,” agreed Sirius.

 

James peered out the window carefully, watching the sun begin to descend in the sky. When he was sure it would be the right time, he stood back and held his wand to his heart, looking at the other two as a gesture to do the same. They followed his lead.

 

_ “Amato Animo Animato Animagus.” _

 

Again, nothing happened. Again, it was weird. But at least they were done with it for today. Now they just needed to do this twice every day until an electrical storm somehow happened in the middle of Scotland. Because Scotland’s got a  _ ton _ of warm air. Electrical storms are totally common.

 

This was going to be hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okokok i promise ill have something longer out soon ive had like zero energy for anything im sorr y


	8. things are changing(but not really)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the usual dumb pranks and things the marauders do while they wait for that damn storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy a normal length chapter what is UP

_ POV: Remus Lupin _

_ Year: Third _

 

Remus was grateful for his friends. He was grateful for their decision to become Animagi for him. He was grateful for their stupid jokes, and the pranks that they’d include him in, and that the only time hey treated him differently for being a werewolf was when they were expressing concern for him. 

 

However, he was  _ not _ grateful for being woken up every morning at sunrise because of the incantation they were required to speak every morning and evening. He suspected they were more annoyed with the monotony of the situation than he was, so he decided to leave them be.

 

One morning, in the middle of May, the three other boys had a completely different reaction than normal.

 

“Holy shit,” Sirius whispered. 

 

“What is that?” Peter sounded worried. “Guys. Guys, do you feel that? What  _ is  _ that?”

 

“Oh my god.  _ Oh _ my god. Guys. Oh my god,” James repeated over and over.

 

Remus had the fleeting thought that they were probably going insane, but he pushed that aside.

 

“What’s up?” he asked tiredly, rubbing one of his eyes.

 

Sirius turned, grinning. “Double heartbeat!” he said cheerily.

 

“Uh..” Remus wondered if they really were going insane. “What?”

 

“It’s supposed to happen eventually. I didn’t expect it to be so soon, but-”

 

“It’s  _ awesome! _ We’re doing it right!” James interrupted Peter.

 

“Look,” Sirius rushed over to Remus and grabbed his hand, pressing it against his chest. “See?”

 

Remus raised an eyebrow skeptically, but after a couple seconds, he noticed what seemed like another heart beating, just out of time with his normal heartbeat. It was similar to two metronomes clicking away at the same time, with the sound fading and reappearing and it moved in and out of time with his original heartbeat.

 

He pulled his hand away, ignoring the sound of his own heart nearly beating out of his chest. “Holy shit,” he agreed.

 

* * *

Despite that one occurrence, things seemed to go normally for the rest of the day. James bugged Lily as normal. The four got to swap the beetle Severus was supposed to Transfigure for a tiny lion figurine that James had enchanted to run up the boy’s arm and leave tiny bites- nothing that would severely hurt him, they were similar to mosquito bites. James wasn’t  _ that _ cruel. They got scolded by Professor McGonagall directly afterwards(“Totally worth it,” Sirius had whispered to them when she wasn’t listening).

 

At lunch, the four unintentionally _ (see: intentionally) _ caused a food fight, even bringing Marlene and Mary into it, despite Lily’s protests. Eventually, though, even Lily succumbed to the appeal of the fight, and joined in.

 

They completely ruined both groups’ potions. It wasn’t too disappointing, three of them got a good laugh out of Sirius’s involuntary shriek when the potion erupted like a volcano, directly in his face. At least it wasn’t  _ harmful. _ They had managed to mess their Bulgeye Potion up so badly that all it did was mildly annoy the other boy. Professor Slughorn didn’t even try to scold them- he’d learned last year that their shenanigans would never stop. And James knew just what to give him every once in awhile so he wouldn’t tell their Head of House about the things they’d done.

 

During History of Magic, Peter tried to throw a crumpled up piece of parchment into the trash across the room, and ended up throwing straight through Professor Binns, instead. Not exactly the bin he was going for, but it was undeniably hilarious to see Binns’s face scrunch up as he searched for the culprit. He shot a couple dirty looks towards James and Sirius while Peter attempted to make himself invisible and Remus attempted to keep in his laughter.

 

“If we get detention because of this, I’ll jinx you, Pettigrew,” whispered Sirius.

 

“No you won’t,” Peter whispered back.

 

Sirius stuck his tongue out.

 

“Real mature,” said Remus as his eyes followed Professor Binns, making sure he didn’t look their way and gain an excuse to shout at them.

 

“Ten Sickles says I can get this through his head without him knowing it was me,” James held up his own crumpled piece of parchment, looking at the others for confirmation.

 

“I’ll take you up on that bet,” said Sirius, grinning.

 

Remus knew that Sirius never took one of James’s bets unless he was at least 90% sure he’d lose. He decided to stay silent, focusing his attention on his work. Peter did the same. The two exchanged a look that said they both knew this would end badly.

 

James threw the ball. It luckily(or unluckily) went straight through Professor Binns’s head, and the teacher turned around, scowling and looking directly at James, who was currently giving Sirius a triumphant look.

 

“Mister Potter. See me after class.”

 

James’s expression quickly changed from gloating to dread. Sirius silently laughed, shaking and pointing at James. He was covering his mouth, as if that would keep him from actually laughing out loud, but the amusement was clear in his eyes. James glared at Sirius, but couldn’t suppress a short laugh of his own.

 

Remus, Sirius, and Peter waited outside the classroom after class as James got his inevitable scolding from Professor Binns. He came out of the room ten minutes later.

 

“No detention. It’s a win for me,” he said.

 

“Except that you still owe me ten Sickles,” Sirius pointed out.

 

James sighed and fished the money out of his pocket, dropping it into Sirius’s expecting hands. 

 

“Come on, dorks, we still have dinner to get to,” said Remus. 

 

“Hey, you stole my word,” Sirius pouted.

 

“You did not claim the word ‘dork,’ unless you count the fact that you are one. Now, come on. Food time.”

 

Sirius stuck his tongue out again.

 

Halfway through their walk to the Great Hall, Peter noticed the sun setting through a window. Him and the other two ducked into an empty classroom to do their whole Animagus thing, while Remus stood outside, leaning against the wall next to the door. They emerged a minute later, James muttering about how cool the double heartbeat thing was.

 

“Thanks for noticing, Pete,” James said as they continued their walk to the Great Hall. Remus disliked how long it took to get from one place to another in this castle.

 

“Oh- um, you’re welcome,” Peter smiled.

 

Dinner went by without much of a disturbance, but that was mostly because McGonagall was keeping a close eye on the four, making sure they didn’t start another war.

 

Once they were all back in their dorms, things calmed down a bit. James lay on his stomach, making a quill zip across the room. Peter worked on his Divination homework, whispering an occasional  _ what?  _ or  _ when am I ever going to use this? _ Sirius lay on his side, making a quill of his own fly around and battle James’s quill mid-air. His hair fell into his face, but he didn’t seem to notice- he was more preoccupied with making sure he won the quill fight. James ended up winning, but Sirius still laughed at their stupid antics, bringing his quill back to his nightstand.

 

Remus wondered why he had started noticing all these little things.

 

He decided it was a thought for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me too remus


	9. fillers,,, yay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some more shenanigans and a look at some students outside of our main group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaH sorry for not updating for so long i am s o sorr y  
> anyways have this super short chapter im sorry i promise i'll have a longer one out soon hopefully

_ POV: Sirius Black _

_ Year: Fourth _

 

Sirius was slowly getting sick of waiting for the electrical storm that they needed. He wished that he could just magically make one, but A) he wasn’t experienced enough for that, and B) the procedure him, James, and Peter had read stated specifically that if you cheated, the process would not work. He assumed that magically creating a storm was considered cheating. All he could say was that he was thankful the storm hadn’t happened during summer break. Sirius didn’t know what he’d do if he had to somehow run to Hogwarts mid-summer because the storm just so happened to start while he was away from school. It wouldn’t be fun.

 

The alarm clock on James’s nightstand suddenly started ringing, startling Sirius out of his inner monologue. James had enchanted it to ring when the sun started to rise, which was admittedly brilliant, but that didn’t mean Sirius couldn’t be slightly disgruntled that he was being forced out of bed at five in the fucking morning.

 

“Rise and shine, kids,” said James, jumping out of his bed. How he had that energy this early, Sirius did not know.

 

“I’m older than you,” Sirius grumbled.

 

“One of us still needs his sleep,” Remus said from underneath his covers, the sound slightly muffled.

 

James, Sirius, and Peter all laughed quietly, performing the incantation and climbing back in their beds.

 

“Good luck with that rest, Moony,” Peter called from his bed.

 

“I hate you all,” Remus mumbled.

 

An hour later, once the three boys had managed to get Remus out of bed without getting their heads ripped off, they all made their way down to the Great Hall for another breakfast. As they did so, Sirius overheard a group talking.

 

“ _ God, _ I would give anything for some  _ mloukieh  _ right now. If I have to sit through one more boring steak and potatoes dinner, I think I’ll lose it,” said one student in a thick, Middle Eastern accent.

 

“Tell me about it,” said another student. “I don’t even want to know how Dad got through seven years here.”

 

Sirius had always thought that the food here was the best thing since sliced bread. Though, growing up in a rich, white family, he couldn’t say he’d had much else. He wondered if James felt the same way with foods he had at home.

 

The minute the four boys sat at their table, a Gryffindor third year walked in with a ginger cat curled around his shoulders and neck. A Ravenclaw student of the same age, likely the cat’s owner, followed after him, a complete look of ‘what-the-actual-fuck’ on their face. As they drew closer, Sirius could hear the Ravenclaw’s words clearer.

 

“... can’t just- you’re not going to just  _ walk away _ with my cat draped over you like a fucking scarf. He needs to stay in the dorms during meals,” they said sternly.

 

“What’s the problem?” asked the Gryffindor nonchalantly. “He wants to be here.”

 

“The  _ problem _ is that unless you want cat hair all over your damn food, I suggest you give him  _ back _ to me.”

 

“Why don’t you just take him?” 

 

“You know  _ full well _ that I can’t fucking  _ reach him, _ you imbecile-”

 

A Hufflepuff student ran over, calming the two quickly and returning the cat to the Ravenclaw.

 

“That was… interesting,” said Remus, focusing his attention back to his food as McGonagall began to pass out the schedules for the day. She stopped and scolded the cat thief before continuing down the table. It seemed that the situation was tamed, at least for now.

 

* * *

Later that day, in Potions class, James made their time bearable by flicking lacewing flies at Snivellus- that is, until Lily gave him a look fierce enough to kill at least twenty military men. That definitely put an end to James’s fun, much to his dismay. 

 

The rest of class passed by without another incident. As they made their way to their next class, the four noticed the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff from earlier. They were both arguing heatedly in a foreign language as they passed. Sirius, obviously, understood none of it. 

 

During Defense Against the Dark Arts, the four snacked in the back of the classroom while the professor droned on and on about different magical creatures and their properties. After a while, the professor looked directly at the Marauders, obviously fed up with the constant crunching sound of their food.

 

“Would you like to explain  _ why _ you are eating in my class when dinner is directly afterwards?” she asked.

 

Sirius shrugged. “We’re growing boys?” he offered.

 

The professor sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and continuing her lesson without another word to them.

 

When dinnertime came around, the four Marauders rushed out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall. Remus got there first, raising his arms in triumph.

 

“Bite me, losers,” he said jokingly, laughing as the other three arrived at the doors to the Great Hall.

 

James punched him in the shoulder lightly. “I think if I did, I’d get a nerd infection or something.”

 

The four laughed as they entered the Great Hall.

 

* * *

That night, after the sunset incantation, Sirius slept soundly, feeling just a bit more grateful for his friends than normal.


	10. NOT A CHAPTER(IM SO SORRY)

hey this isnt a chapter im so fucking sorry for trolling you like this

i fucking died i KNOW please forgive me

i swear to god i'll write more soon at some point maybe

**Author's Note:**

> yo. so thats that. leave a comment or smth if you want. kudos are nice


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